Hacked Jeep sends warning to German luxury-car trio - The Detroit News
When hackers landed a Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV Jeep in a ditch last week, it sent a warning to BMW AG, Audi and Mercedes-Benz as the German luxury-car trio compete increasingly on technology rather than just horsepower. Mercedes’s E-Class will soon be able to help steer itself, Audi sent an unmanned RS7 down a track at race-car speeds and BMW’s new 7-Series responds to hand gestures. All three carmakers say they have tools in place to thwart cyberattacks, including encrypted connections and siloed safety and entertainment systems. Still, today’s cars are so complex that more hacks may be inevitable, said Rainer Scholz, a Hamburg-based executive director for telematics and mobility at consulting company EY. “The difficulty for the carmakers at the moment is the question... Carmakers currently tend to focus on systems security after the final product has been built, to then patch holes, Scholz said. And hackers no longer need access to an entire car — which in the past might have required buying one — in order to seek out vulnerabilities, he said. Cars are more vulnerable when networks connect all their features together, according to an automotive team from NXP Semiconductors. Source: www.detroitnews.com
